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3. Seriousness, Playfulness, and a Religious Reading of Tianshu
- State University of New York Press
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67 chapter three Seriousness, Playfulness, and a Religious Reading of Tianshu k ua n-h u ng c h e n introduction In this chapter, I intend to explore the religious dimensions of Tianshu (known as A Book from the Sky, 1987–1991, Figure I.1; hereafter, Tianshu 天書) and its relationship to seriousness and playfulness . Since Xu Bing’s immigration to the United States in 1991, discussions about the religious dimensions of Tianshu are generally absent from curatorial descriptions and scholarly investigations of the work. Reading Tianshu as a religious text would thus seem to be a new suggestion.1 However, it is evident that the religious elements of Tianshu have significantly stimulated the energetic responses it received beginning with its initial appearance. During its first exhibition in Beijing, it was reported that “the exhibition evoked sensations similar to those felt in a temple or in a hall of mourning” and that “some people felt breathless or frightened.”2 Not long after the work went public, the current title, Tianshu, was appended. While shu refers to writing or texts, tian was employed to characterize its numinous quality.3 Hence, the problem at stake is not whether there is a religious reading of Tianshu but how to appropriately interpret such readings. There is yet another characteristic of Tianshu that is not directly related to its religious dimensions yet immediately problematizes them: the interplay between its seriousness and playfulness. While viewers can sense the incredible discipline and labor with which Xu Bing approached the work, Tianshu is also perceived as wordplay, a pun—which makes the expression of seriousness almost absurd.4 68 kua n-hung chen One may not encounter much difficulty in associating the serious with the religious; but how can playfulness be accommodated as well? This question seems to challenge any attempt to interpret Tianshu as a religious text at a fundamental level. A “commonsensical ” and certainly persistent response is to disassociate the playful from the religious. Nevertheless, I shall take an uncommon approach and argue that the playful has a lot to do with the religious. In the following sections of this chapter, I shall first provide a theoretical framework that sets up the backbone of my inquiry. I will appeal to the Deweyan distinction between “the religious” and “religion” and further distinguish two possible yet incompatible readings based on either an inclusive or exclusive sense of religiousness . I intend to use Rudolf Otto’s theory of religious absolutism as a salient example of exclusive religiousness and argue that while it is unthinkable to link religiousness and playfulness together in an exclusive sense of religiousness, it is much less problematic for playfulness to find its place within an inclusive framework of religiousness . Tianshu and its religiousness, I proffer, belong to the latter paradigm. Secondly, I shall contextualize Tianshu in the Chinese religio-philosophical tradition from which it emerges in order to demonstrate how seriousness and playfulness can be altogether accommodated in a religiously inclusive model. I will pay close attention to the characteristics of Chinese religio-philosophical traditions that are distinctively inclusive, including the resonant features of qi cosmology. Thirdly, I shall identify three concepts—noncoercive action, readiness for awakening, and leaving off speaking—that are deeply rooted in Chinese religious sensibility to articulate the profundity of the dynamic interplay between the seriousness and playfulness of Tianshu. Finally, I would like to draw three implications deduced from the previous investigations by referencing Chinese religio-philosophical discourse that may constructively situate Tianshu within the current international and transcultural arena. These are: reinstating playfulness, reframing seriousness and playfulness , and reconstructing meaningfulness and religiousness. r eligious r ea dings of tianshu: a n overview Religion, the Religious, and Religiousness Before looking closely at what could be meant by qualifying Tianshu as a religious text, several pivotal distinctions have to be made in [52.90.40.84] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 10:12 GMT) Seriousness, Playfulness, and a Religious Reading of Tianshu 69 order to prevent the current inquiry from slipping into murky water. Due to the ambiguity that the term “religious” conveys, clarifications of a working definition are of central importance prior to introducing two possible readings of Tianshu as a religious text. John Dewey, one of the preeminent founders of American Pragmatism, makes a significant distinction between religion, a religion, and the religious. For Dewey “religion” is a substantive noun and a “strictly collective term” that signifies various bodies of beliefs and practices situated...